The Beautiful Secret
by runningtwelve
Summary: A story that takes place after the manga that shows Akane and Ranma's feeling for each other and how they would show it if it was a secret between the two of them.  Sorry summary kind of stinks please give me your input.
1. Chapter 1

**The Beautiful Secret**

**(A/N)** This is my first attempt at any fan fiction so the writing may not be to detailed, I just wanted to give it a try and get some reviews, then hopefully I can take your guys advice and improve my writing.

**Chapter 1**

"I can't believe Akane." Ranma muttered as he sprinted through the front doors of Furinkan High School ten minutes late. He took a deep breath and sighed as he opened the door to his class, and was not surprised when he was immediately sent out to stand in the hallway with two buckets of water. 'Why hadn't Akane woken me up this morning?' He thought to himself, as he stared down the hall. Ranma started to replay the last few days back in his head, but couldn't find a single thing for Akane to be mad at him for. Actually things over the last few days to everyone's surprise were very mellow between them. They got in no fights, and actually spent more time together than usual. "Hmmm" Ranma sighed, "I'm half girl and I don't think I'll ever understand women."

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><p>Akane stared at Ranma's empty desk feeling bad for not waking him up this morning. It had been about fifteen minutes since he was first sent out into the hall, and she wondered how mad he would be for the rest of the day. Though Ranma had done nothing to deserve it she simply needed to start a fight with him to hopefully stop another one of their fathers' crazy wedding schemes. Last night Akane had over heard their fathers talking about various ways to basically force her and Ranma into marriage. She figured the recent good times Ranma and her had been having together were the main reason for the sudden plotting, so an argument like this would be the perfect way to crush their spirits. Akane stared out the window and sighed, 'If only there was some other way.' She thought to herself.<p>

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><p>Just as Akane had thought Ranma had said hardly anything to her the rest of the day, besides the occasional "uncute" or "tomboy" which she was kind of expecting from him. It was nearly midnight now and she couldn't sleep, so she just stared at the ceiling thinking to herself. 'All this trouble couldn't have come at a worse time.' She thought, 'My birthday would be coming up in a couple of days and I was worried enough as it was that Ranma would either forget or just flat out not get me anything. Now for sure there would be no way the jerk would get me something.'<p>

"Hmmm" Akane sighed as she rolled over in bed. 'Why did everything have to be so complicated' she thought, 'I just had to go and fall in love with the most sought after guy in all of Nerima, and if its not some girl madly in love with him it's some guy who wants to kill him.' Could Ranma possibly feel the same way about her, or was she just as delusional as his other fiancés? For the first two years Ranma was staying with them she always new in the back of her mind how she felt about him, but she was determined to try and believe she hated him just like she would tell everyone else. It wasn't until about two months ago that she finally started to come to terms with her feelings even though never openly admitting it and of course she still tries to play it off like she didn't care too much about him. Akane closed her eyes and decided the best thing for her to do now was to get to sleep and just hope for the best.

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><p>Ranma woke up after being softly shaken by his father, which surprised Ranma who was more used to flying out the window into the koi pond right about this time in the morning. "What pops?" Ranma groaned still stunned by his non-violent father. "I know you are mad at your fiancé, but you got to suck it up boy, her birthday is tomorrow and I know you haven't even thought about what you are going to get her." Ranma looked at his father for a while "And who says I'm getting that tomboy something." He replied coldly. Ranma now found himself flying towards their window, this was more like what he was used to. He gracefully caught himself before flying out the window and took a seat on the windowsill. "I'll get her something." Ranma said, "But don't go getting any ideas I'm just doing it so I won't have to hear you and Mr. Tendo lecture me." Genma grinned after hearing this and watched his son jump out the window and disappear over the back wall.<p>

Ranma was walking through town looking at all kinds of different things in various shop windows, but nothing stood out to him. He had planned on asking Akane about what she wanted for her birthday present yesterday, but was to busy being angry at her. It didn't help both that he was up all night thinking about stupid Akane, and why she had suddenly reverted back to how she normally acted a few months ago. He could have any girl in Nerima, yet the one he cared about was so hard to figure out. He supposed the fact that he pretended he hated her guts opposed to just showing how he truly felt, probably added to the difficulty. Just then Ranma spotted Kasumi who was out grocery shopping. "Kasumi!" he shouted, causing the oldest Tendo sister to turn and wave in his direction.

'This couldn't be better.' Ranma thought, 'Who knows Akane better than Kasumi.' "H-Hey Kasumi do you think you could umm help me out with a present for uhh Akane, because I'm hopeless with this kind of stuff?" He was surprised at how embarrassing the question actually was when he asked it. "Of course Ranma!" Kasumi said smiling at him. Ranma was instantly relieved as Kasumi brought him to a clothing store where he bought a beautiful white and red dress that Kasumi had promised that she would absolutely love.

Ranma decided he would treat Kasumi out to ice cream since she had been so helpful to him today, plus he'd never really had the chance to talk to Kasumi before one on one. That sat across from each other trading stories from their past, Ranma mostly talking about all the times his dad had used him to get food or money. Kasumi shared more cheerful stories about trips the family would take when her mother was still alive. All and all Ranma was glad he had gotten to have the conversation with Kasumi.

The walk home was mostly quiet until Kasumi had broken the silence. "You know I'm really glad you and your dad started living with us." She said Ranma surprised by her gratitude. "You've really made Akane happy being here Ranma." Ranma's heart skipped a beat. "I don't know if you and me are seeing the same Akane." He said gloomily, "Akane completely despises everything about me!" This made Kasumi laugh, Ranma looked at her curiously. "She has never been really good at expressing her feelings, but look at all the little things she does for you." She said cheerfully. "Like what?" Ranma asked while shooting Kasumi another curious glance. "Well for one you're the only guy she has ever tried to impress so badly with her cooking, and not to mention every time a girl gets close to you she goes crazy." Ranma took a moment to think about these things, he had always thought about the negative things these actions had brought him, but now that Kasumi had said it, he supposed it did kind of sound like she cared. It also made Ranma feel bad for all those times he had been so insulting of Akane's cooking. Before he could respond to anything Kasumi had said they were walking through the front gate of the house.

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><p>Akane watched as Ranma and Kasumi walked through the front door together. "Where had they been all day?" she thought, but quickly refocused herself. She had already decided she was going to apologize to Ranma for yesterday, at least that way maybe he wouldn't hate her on her birthday.<p>

Akane followed her fiancé up to his room and then waited a couple minutes at the door before taking a deep breath and knocking. "Come in!" she heard him say. Akane slowly entered his room suddenly very nervous about the apology she had worked out in her head.

"R-Ranma?" she stuttered.

"Yeah Akane?"

"I just wanted to tell you sorry… for how I treated you yesterday."

"Don't say another word Akane." Ranma said plainly.

"W-What!" she asked confused.

"I'm the one who's sorry Akane."

"For what?" she asked.

"For everything I have or for that matter haven't done since the day I met you." Ranma said sincerely.

Akane was completely astonished, that was the complete opposite of what she had expected to hear from her fiancé. She now had so many things she wanted to ask Ranma all running through her head at once. The only problem is she was at a complete loss for words at the moment.

"I uhh… thanks Ranma." She managed to choke out.

"Everything you've done for me has been meant with good intentions." Ranma said his voice shaking, "And I'm very sorry that it took me this long to figure it out."

"Ranma." Akane muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Beautiful Secret**

**(A/N)** Once again bear with me and let me know what you think. I appreciate the positive comments you guys left me, and hope you'll comment or PM me after you read this chapter. I also apologize if you think I write to much from Ranma's point of view, it's just I'm a guy and have an easier time relating to Ranma opposed to Akane.

**Chapter 2**

Akane sat in her bed staring at the ceiling. She had decided to skip her morning workout today, due to the fact she was still trying to sort out the conversation that she and Ranma had had the night previous.

What exactly did Ranma mean when he said he was sorry for the things he had and hadn't done since the day they met. Akane had come to the conclusion that Kasumi must have had something to do with it, seeing how Ranma and her had spent pretty much the whole day together. However she had no idea what her sister could have said or done to get Ranma to say those things.

Is it possible that Ranma could possibly have feelings for her, or was it all some insane guilt trip caused by Kasumi. The more she thought about it the more confused she became.

Finally Akane decided to go down stairs for a glass of water. She quietly passed everyone's rooms trying not to wake them, and made her way down stairs to the kitchen. When Akane got to the door in the kitchen she froze. Their sitting in the kitchen was Ranma, and he looked like had hadn't slept at all last night. She had decided she would observe her fiancé a little before making her presence known.

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><p>"Hmmm" Ranma sighed as her took a sip of tea. He had been up all night thinking about the conversation with Akane. 'Why can't I ever say what I want to say?' he thought, 'I think it all out in my head but then when I try to say it, it comes out all awkward like what happened last night.' Although he did give himself credit, that unlike his usual conversations with Akane, at least he had not insulted her at all.<p>

Ranma couldn't figure out why she hadn't said a word to him after he had apologized. After the awkward silence that followed Ranma's last few words Akane just ran out of the room. Ranma sighed again. 'She must hate me.' He thought, 'There is no other explanation.'

He wanted to get his mind off of things, so Ranma decided he'd go work out in the dojo. He got out of his chair and that's when he finally noticed Akane standing in the doorway.

"H-hey Akane." He managed to force out.

"Hello Ranma."

"I thought you would be on your morning run right about now." He said puzzled.

"Yeah I decided I'd skip today, since it's my birthday."

"Oh yeah… Happy birthday by the way."

"Thanks." She responded quietly.

A long awkward silence followed their short exchange of words. Then all of the tension was broken when Kasumi walked into the kitchen.

"Oh hello Ranma… and Akane." She said surprised, "Why are you two up so early, and what are you doing in the kitchen?"

"We both just happened to wake up at the same time and come down for a drink I guess!" Ranma responded defensively, "Just a coincidence."

"Uhh alright if you say so." Kasumi replied, "And by the way Akane happy birthday!"

"Yeah….. Just a coincidence." Akane said sadly, "And thanks for remembering my birthday Kasumi."

"Of course I remembered my little sisters birthday." Kasumi said with a big smile on her face.

"Well if anyone needs me I'll be in my room." Akane said trying to hide the sadness in her voice from Ranma and Kasumi.

By the time she had gotten to the stairs, tears were forming in her eyes. By the time she was in her room and the door was shut, the downpour had already begun.

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><p>Ranma sat on the floor in the middle of the dojo all by himself. 'I wanted to tell her right then how I feel about her, but who am I kidding as soon as someone comes around I just can't tell her.' He thought to himself, 'I always just end up making her more mad at me somehow.' Ranma stood up now and began his morning workout as he thought to himself. 'She's probably in her room right now not giving a second thought about me, yet I can't get her off my mind.'<p>

"It's just not fair!" Ranma shouted.

'I have to tell her how I feel once and for all, and even after I get rejected at least I can move on and forget about her all ready.'

After he had figured out what he must do Ranma decided to skip his workout and go immediately to talk to Akane. 'I can't run away from this anymore, I have to talk to her about it right now.' Ranma thought to himself as he stood outside of Akane's door with the present he had bought for her in his hands. At that moment he realized how fast his heart was actually beating. He tried desperately to steady his breathing, but only managed to slightly control his nerves. He had decided he must take one last deep breath and enter into her room, before he decided to chicken out instead. So without even knocking Ranma opened the door and walked into Akane's room.

Ranma was shocked to see Akane sitting at her desk with her head buried in her arms, and noticed that she was so busy crying that she hadn't even noticed Ranma come in. Ranma took a moment before he could even comprehend what was happening, this was not what he expected at all.

"Yo Akane!"

"RANMA!"

Akane turned to face him, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Akane before you get angry and hit me with your mallet, please let me say something to you."

Akane who was more surprised at the moment compared to angry decided to hear him out.

"It's not much, but you only get one birthday a year so there." Ranma said as he handed her the present.

"T-thanks." Akane replied quietly.

"That's not the real reason I came to talk to you though Akane." Ranma said as he stared down at Akane's feet.

"What I really wanted to tell you, and have wanted to tell you for some time now is…...Ummm….well you see I…..Uhhh kind of have this thing for you."

Ranma was now blushing pretty uncontrollably.

"Uhhh I'm not to sure what you mean by that Ranma." Akane said curiously.

Ranma then took one very deep breath and took one step forward toward Akane.

"Akane…I love you."

And before the words could even register in Akane's head, Ranma had gone out her window and was now out of sight.

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><p><strong>(AN) **Well hoped you enjoyed that chapter, and I'm sorry to say that I'll be out of town and away from my computer for my parents anniversary for a week, so I won't be able to update for a while. I will assure you though as soon as I return I will work as fast as I can to release the next chapter. I'll look forward to reading your comments from my phone while I'm away though so don't forget to review.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Beautiful Secret**

**(A/N) **All right guys thanks for all the support and here's the third chapter of the story. Don't forget to let me know what you think just like always. This one is gonna be my shortest chapter yet, so sorry in advance I was just trying to set it up for the next chapter. Anyway hope you guys enjoy it anyways.

**Chapter 3**

Everyone was shocked when Ranma didn't show up for breakfast.

"So Akane what happened between you guys this time?" Nabiki asked finally breaking the silence.

"N-nothing…..I mean how am I supposed to know?"

"Oh sure we totally believe you Akane." Nabiki said sarcastically, "Ranma Soatome misses a meal and nothings wrong?"

Akane wasn't in the mood for all the questions like this she would have to answer if she stayed in the house, and she had to confront Ranma about what he said.

"Well Nabiki since you're so worried, how about I go find him and bring him back here so you can interrogate him!"

And before anyone could say another word she was out the front door and off to find Ranma. 'I need to talk to him about earlier' she thought to herself, 'What kind of a jerk tells a girl he loves her and then jumps out her window without another word'. "Hmmm." She sighed, 'But I don't even know where to start looking'.

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><p>Ranma found himself a few blocks away in the vacant lot. 'Some man you are' he thought to himself, 'I just couldn't stay, I just know she hates me, and now she probably hates me even more'. To top it all off he had even missed breakfast. That had been the first meal he'd missed since he came to the tendo's. He wondered if he would be able to man up and at least go back for lunch.<p>

Ranma couldn't control his hunger any longer, and was just about to go to Uchan's place to get some food when he saw Akane walking past the lot. Instinctively he ducked down behind a couple of large pipes, so he wouldn't be seen by his blue haired fiancé. 'No I can't hide, I have to deal with it.' He thought to himself, 'But wait maybe I can just play it off and tell her I was kidding, that way she won't hate me as much'. So that is what Ranma decided he would do.

"Hey Akane!" Ranma shouted getting her attention.

Akane turned and started to walk towards him. Ranma could feel his heart start to pound and he had almost forgot how to breathe. She was a few feet away from him now. He opened his mouth and was just about to talk, when Akane cut him off.

"No you don't say a word until I'm finished; you got that?"

Ranma opened his mouth again but was once again cut off.

"First of all you know how many questions I got asked about you missing breakfast, and what kind of a guy makes a girl search for him on her own birthday."

Then Akane paused and her tone became softer.

"And why did you jump out the window after you told me that you loved me?" she said almost whispering.

Ranma was so surprised with everything his fiancé had just said to him, that Ranma's plan completely went out the window. He decided he would man up and just tell her the truth.

"It's the same reason I never told you before, I just don't want to hear what I already know you are going to say." He said his voice shaking, "I just can't take it Akane, I just can't."

Ranma was now looking straight down at the floor his entire body was shaking now, then Akane closed the gap between them and looked up into Ranma's dark blue eyes.

"You don't want to hear me say I love you too." She said softly, "You're such a dummy."

"W-what are you serious or is this just your idea of a joke?" Ranma asked still staring into her eyes.

Then Akane completely closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head into his chest. Ranma was surprised at this and it took him a few seconds before he returned the embrace. They stood in the lot hugging for what seemed like hours to the couple, before they finally parted.

"You know?" Akane said, "This might turn out to be the best birthday I've ever had."

Ranma didn't want to ruin the moment by sticking his foot in his mouth, so he just remained silent and answered her with a smile.

"You must be starving, so how about we go get some food, it will be your treat."

Ranma just nodded and the two walked towards town hand in hand.

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><p>Ranma and Akane sat on a bench in the park eating food that they had picked up from a nearby restaurant. After they were done eating they started to talk about what they would do about their new relationship.<p>

"So Ranma what do you think we should do about all this?"

"What do you mean?" he asked as he turned to face her.

"I mean about telling everyone and dealing with all the trouble that will come from it."

"Oh yeah, well to tell you the truth I hadn't really thought that far ahead." Ranma said with a chuckle.

"Well I was thinking it might be best if we keep it a secret for a while, and maybe we can try to sort things out." She told him.

"Yeah, I guess your right that probably would be the safest thing to do, with all our crazy suitors and stuff."

"Yeah plus our dads will definitely try to push us into marriage." Then she quickly added, "Not that I don't want to get married, I just don't want to be rushed into it."

"Of course not."

Then Ranma took Akane's hand in his and pulled her into his arms.

"Alright tomboy I guess we will have to keep it secret for now, but I can't promise I will be able to control myself when we are alone." Ranma said with a sarcastic tone.

"Is that so Baka?" she said plainly, "I can't wait."

Then the pair walked home hand in hand. They made sure to separate however as soon as they got past the vacant lot. Finally right before they went through the front gate, the two of them hugged each other one last time and entered the house.

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><p><strong>(AN) **And thus ends another chapter, don't forget to review. Once again sorry for the shortness of this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Beautiful Secret**

**(A/N) **Here's the fourth chapter of this story and once again I would like to thank you all for the reviews and private messages. I try to take it all to heart as best I can. I'm also sorry for how long it took me to write this chapter, I've been bust in the outside world, but please enjoy.

**Chapter 4**

Ranma sat on his futon staring at the ceiling. He was almost afraid that if he fell asleep now, everything that just happened today with Akane would just turn out to be some crazy dream. He was also a little worried about keeping their feelings a secret from everyone else. If certain people were to find out, things could get pretty out of hand. Then he began thinking about how people would react.

'Well of course our fathers would want us hitched immediately.' He thought to himself, 'And of course Shampoo would probably try to take Akane out of the picture.'

Then Ranma started wondering how their relationship would have turned out if they each didn't have so many crazed suitors or not to mention crazed fathers. "Oh well." He sighed, 'I really better get to sleep, it's late.'

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><p>Ranma awoke the next morning like he awoke most mornings, a bit more girlish and swimming in the koi pond. He (or she) then began his usual morning routine with his father. The workout finally ended with Kasumi calling for them, telling them that breakfast was ready. Ranma ran upstairs to shower and resume his male form, while his now panda father shamelessly strolled towards the table.<p>

Ranma then went back downstairs and joined the whole rest of the house, who were all now at the table eating breakfast. Just then he realized how awkward this meal would actually be. Ranma did not know how to act around his fiancé now, and he soon realized she felt the same way.

"Well you two are awfully quiet." Nabiki said suspiciously breaking the silence.

Ranma looked up to see she was staring directly at him and Akane. They both glanced at each other, and then quickly stared back at their food.

"Uhh what do you mean by that Nabiki?" Ranma asked, trying as hard as he could to sound calm.

"Oh I don't know, usually by this time Akane is either trying to use you in a game of whack-a-mole, or hitting you with a table."

"Well maybe I just haven't done anything to deserve it, You ever think of that?"

"Whatever Ranma, don't take this this wrong way but you always are doing something or other to deserve it." She said, clearly not convinced.

"Back off Nabiki." Akane hissed at her older sister.

"Ooh and now your defending him, has a certain couple had some sort of revelation?"

"As if you could ever call us a couple." She snapped back at Nabiki, "Never in a million years."

Ranma suddenly realized how much those words hurt, as they rolled off Akane's tongue. That wasn't even as bad as one of her usual insults, but now it seemed to hurt so much more hearing something like that come from his fiancé's mouth.

"Yeah….same goes double for me tomboy." He croaked out.

The meal ended much like it had begun, in a very very awkward silence, which seemed to become a pretty frequent occurrence in the Tendo house. Then shortly following the meal Akane and Ranma left for school.

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><p>Ranma and Akane walked side by side towards Furinkan high, both trying to find words to break the silence.<p>

"Uhh Akane, you didn't mean that stuff you said back at breakfast did you?" Ranma asked sheepishly.

"Well of course not, dummy." Akane responded, "I was just pretending, so Nabiki would back off."

"Oh yeah, that's what I figured." He laughed nervously.

This whole pretending business was harder than he had thought. It was easy before he had shared his feelings with Akane, but now it seemed like Akane's words had a lot more of an impact on him.

"Well, we better run or we are going to be late for school." Akane said as she started to run towards the school.

Ranma nodded and followed close behind her, still lost in thought.

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><p>School seemed to fly right by, Akane thought to herself as she waved to Sayuri and met up with Ranma. They walked together towards home; while they talked about the report they were assigned in English that was due next week. Then the couple froze as they heard a bell and Akane glanced at Ranma, to see him tensing up, just then he was struck with a blue bike courtesy of a certain purple haired amazon.<p>

"Nihao Ranma, you want take Shampoo on date after deliveries?" She asked innocently.

"How many times do I got to tell you no before you leave me alone Shampoo?" Ranma said as he got to his feet.

"But that is what happy couples do." She said as she wrapped her arms around him.

Akane met Ranma's apologetic eyes with hers. Just then he managed to push the Chinese girl off of him.

"He said no Shampoo, so back off." Akane said calmly

"What this, obstacle a little jealous." Shampoo hissed as she turned back to face Ranma.

"You prefer date obstacle, all you do is say so." She said now looking directly at Ranma.

Akane locked gazes with Ranma, and she hoped that he would remember to act like he normally did.

"Well of course not." He said defensively, "I would never be seen in public with such a violent, uncute, tomboy like that; never in my life."

"That's what Shampoo thought!" she shouted triumphantly.

"But hold on, I never said I would ever want to date you either." Ranma said coldly.

"Well got to go make rest deliveries now, so if you going to date, Shampoo you know where to find." She said, unaffected by Ranma's last words.

With that said, they watched Shampoo disappear around the corner. The two of them stood there in silence, still processing the conversation that just took place.

Then Akane realized how Ranma had felt at breakfast, his words really did hurt more than usual. On top of that instead of the usual anger she usually felt after words like that, sadness took its place. Just then almost as if Ranma could read her mind he took her hands in his much larger hands and looked into her soft brown eyes. 'Wow he got such pretty blue eyes.' she thought to herself and smiled.

"I'm sorry about what I said just now Akane." He said with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"D-don't worry about it Ranma, I know it was for the best, it's just going to take some getting used to that's all."

"Oh Akane." He sighed as he put his hand on her cheek.

Then to Akane's surprise he pulled her closer and started to lean in to kiss her. Her first reaction was to pull away, but a feeling of joy spread over her and she decided to give in. Then when his lips were only about an inch away from hers she closed her eyes.

"You fiend Soatome!" A voice shouted.

Just then the couple jumped back from each other, both blushing profusely. Then both looked over at the boy who had caused the little intrusion.

"Kuno?" They said in unison.

"Yes it is I the great Tatewaki Kuno." He said as he flipped his hair, "So Soatome I have caught you in the act."

"And what act would that be Kuno?" Ranma asked curiously.

"Don't play dumb with me Soatome." Kuno demanded, then he charged towards Ranma, "I shall make you pay for forcing yourself upon a beautiful maiden, such as Akane Tendo."

"It's not what it looks like." Ranma managed to croak out.

'Thank goodness.' Akane thought to herself, 'If anybody was to see that I'm pretty glad it was Kuno, he couldn't figure it out if we spelled it out for him.' Just then Akane looked up to see Ranma standing over Kuno with his hands in his pockets.

"Wow that was fast." She said shocked at the fact that she never even saw the two fight.

"Yeah that's for sure." Ranma said looking back over at her, "Come on let's go home before he wakes up."

"Alright."

Then the two walked side by side towards the house in silence, Both wondering if everyday would be like this for a while.

….

**(A/N)** And that's the end of the fourth chapter, hope you guys enjoyed. Ill try to get back to you guys with the fifth chapter as soon as possible, and I also might write some one shots, so I'd appreciate it if you guys let me know what you think. Also once again thanks for all the support.


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